Turkey posted a 12.7% year-on-year rise in crude steel production this January, according to trade group data released Monday.

Turkish crude steel production reached 3.4 million tons last January, the Turkish Steel Producers' Association (TCUD) said in a statement.

The volume of steel product exports fell 15.5% on an annual basis to 1.3 million tons in January, also marking a 1% drop in value to $749 million.

Steel imports reached 1.2 million tons, falling 14.3%, while in terms of value, they rose 12.2% to $872 million.

The ratio of exports to imports, which was 97.3% in January last year, declined to 85.9% the same month this year.

Turkey ranked first in Europe and seventh in the world with 35.8 million tons of crude steel production.

The country posted a 6% rise year-on-year to 35.8 million tons in crude steel production in 2020, according to the TCUD./aa